xp will not recognize my USB external hard drive enclosure?

Oh I have some experience. It is simple. Unplug all your usb cables that are plugged in while your PC is shuted down. Then plug in only the device you needed. Turn on your computer. If it works, shut down you Pc again. Then plug in the other devices and do the previous steps(don't unplug the other devices).

First of all, I would be going to the manufacturers web site and look for drivers for the enclosure and try using them. I would also be looking in the Device Manager (Right click my computer > Properties > Hardware > Device Manager) and look under 'Disk Drives' for the external hard drive. Also, try different USB ports. Sometimes Windows is funny and will reinstall the drivers after the device has been plugged into another USB port. Hope all this helps :-)

Good day. Did u try a new USB Cable from the enclosure to the laptop? sometimes the pins on the bottom white part on the inside may have slide in the cable itself not making a proper contact. If this doesnt work, try plugging it in Safe mode. If it works, some program when windows loads is causing the problem. Laterz.

If the drive has drivers, then un-installed them, unplug the drive, and turn off the machine. Reload the drivers and then plug the drive back in. Also, search the manufactures website for driver updates.

try this:

right click on my computer, click manage. go to disk management and see if your drive is listed there or not. see what drive letter is assigned to the drive. Is there a conflict there?

Try restarting your computer (if you haven't already).